What the Future Holds
by Khepri
Summary: Rin's grown up and Sesshoumaru has a hard time entertaining the thought that his little girl really isn't little anymore. One shot


**Author's Note:** This story has nothing to do with any of the one's I'm writing just so you know, but it takes place years from now when Rin's all grown up. It has absolutely nothing to do with the (unfathomable) idea of Rin and Sesshoumaru falling in love. (Seriously, do you think of your father figure that way?) It's just a short story about the fact that Fluffy doesn't want Rin to grow up and that she's a brat right now because she's gotten everything she's always wanted. I'd love some reviews so just hit that little button before you leave. Many thanks.

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The years had melted by. Where was she? Where was the little girl he knew for so long and had raised? Every time he looked at her, the taiyoukai knew that she had grown up. No longer would she giggle while chasing butterflies or ask all the innocent questions that children do. It had all happened so quickly. If Rin had been a demon, she still would be the child that the youkai lord had brought back to life.

But she wasn't. Just the day before, the human had celebrated her nineteenth birthday. Nineteen! A nineteen-year-old youkai would still be considered a toddler! And here she was, _his_ child grown up and having males of all sorts attempting to take her as their mate.

Sesshoumaru's feet never made any noise against the grass as he took his time patrolling his courtyard. He _was_ the Lord of the Western Lands after all. It only made sense for him to have an elaborate palace with a dazzling courtyard and even a small spring. None of his enemies ever dared to show their faces here. This dog demon would have killed them before they knew what hit them. He was death on wings, as dangerous as a silent owl would be to a mouse.

There was Rin, relaxing under a cherry blossom tree, her head bowed so that her dark hair fell forward to hide her face. Wind playfully ruffled her hair now and then as he watched her through his amber eyes. 

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" the girl -no, young woman- said in surprise, standing quickly when she finally heard him come up behind her. Humans could be so deaf sometimes. "I didn't hear you coming." 

Her lord made no reply. He came to a stop somewhere a little past her and after a pause reached up, tearing a delicate flower off the sakura tree. It was so much like her, delicate, beautiful, but also so weak. Sesshoumaru had never let her grow up. Honestly, all of the servants spoke occasionally about it when they knew that their master could not hear. The girl, cute and adorable as she had been when she was younger, had grown up to be a complete brat.

She had been pampered, spoiled, and treated as if there was nothing else in the world but her needs and desires. That had been fine when she was so young, but there was hardly anything attractive about a full grown woman whining about everything and knowing that the demon who was basically her adoptive father would take care of everything.

"My lord?" Rin ventured softly, eyes on the demon's back with concern. "Is something the matter?"

Turning around partway, the youkai responded. Never once did his eyes rise from the delicate structure of petals in his palm. "We shall go on a walk. I, Sesshoumaru, feel that we need to get away from the palace. It will be like how it was when you were a child and you, Jaken and I would stay in the wilderness."

The reaction he got was nothing at all like anything he had expected. The teenager had leapt onto him, flinging her arms around his neck happily and buried her face in the mound of fur that was best described as some sort of tail. 

"Shall I find Jaken, Sesshoumaru-sama?" she asked, lifting her face to look up at him, her father, her lord, the one that she knew was always there for her.

"Yes, Rin-chan," he replied distractedly.                               

Smiling, the human girl stood on the tips of her toes and gently kissed his cheek, just the way any daughter would when one of her parents bestowed upon her a gift. And to her, this was something that she knew would be enjoyable. She would be able to get out and see Japan once more. 

As he watched her run off, the great youkai lord both smiled internally and felt his heart sink. How much longer could he keep her the way she was? Spoiled or not, brat or no, all he wanted was her happiness. She was his world and the one thing he lived for. With each day, this little fledgling grew and he knew that soon she would want to try out her wings and see where the wind would take her. Her dreams, new places, perhaps even a family lay before her in her future and he knew that she wanted it all. 

With a single word, she could have him do nearly anything for her. All she had to do was ask for it, and she would have the world at her feet. Yet giving her away, letting someone else into her life was something that the demon could hardly fathom. 

He would have to though eventually. Long fingers constricted around the delicate pink sakura petals. If anything ever happened to her, he didn't know what he would do. He loved her as if she was his true daughter, not a girl he had saved and then raised. With the aid of Tenseiga, he gave her life when she had none. 

His thoughts left him when he heard the distant, but still loud, sound of human feet darting through the halls of the palace. Soon they would leave and even if only for a while, Sesshoumaru knew that Rin would be happy reliving the years of her childhood. Later he could tackle the fact that she was no longer a carefree little girl. 

Emotionless eyes watched the doorway he knew she would exit from in a matter of moments as he thought curiously, _Rin, my Rin, are you happy here? With a palace and servants at your command, do you have everything you want? No. Every time I look at you, I can tell that there's something else you want. What is it? You know that I, Sesshoumaru, would give you the world if you only asked. Tell me. What are you missing?_


End file.
